Germany commits ¤350m to RI for geology projects

Germany’s Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) has strengthened cooperation with the Indonesian Geologists Agency to develop risk management guidelines for Indonesia, an official says.

Agency secretary Yun Yunus Kusumahbrata said the cooperation, which was launched in 2003, has entered its third stage.

“Now the cooperation is more specific, especially in the improvement of capacity at the geological agency itself and the regional administrations,” Yunus said in Lembang, West Bandung regency, on Tuesday.

Under the agreement, the German government would give Indonesia ¤350 million (US$480 million) for mapping, capacity improvement projects and to build geothermal power plants, he said.

“We’re committed to a new development program in Indonesia on level of ¤350 million. The volume of the commitment will open geothermal energy programs,” German Embassy representative Andreas Beckermann said.

“We will assist in the building two geothermal energy plants to produce electricity,” he said.

According to Yunus, his agency would prepare everything needed to implement the cooperative agreement.

“Our work, for example, will focus on capacity improvement at the geological agency and also in the regions. We hope our cooperation will yield a database infrastructure usable for various purposes, including spatial planning,” he said.

Project leader Matthias Dorn said priority would be given to projects in Aceh, Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces; Bantul and Semarang regencies in Central Java and Ende in East Nusa Tenggara.

Those regions have all been plagued by major natural disasters that killed many people and caused huge economic losses.

“In all those areas, the project will come up with lot of interesting results that will find their way into spatial planning,” Matthias said.

“The major and most effective [goals] are mainly to prevent the loss of human lives and economic damage from geodisasters and geohazards [and to] develop prevention and preparedness programs to protect people,” he said.

One pilot project would be the data inventory and mapping of disaster zones in Semarang, Central Java, according to Matthias.

Matthias said that the Indonesian government has a strong political will for spatial mapping as evinced by many documents and regional bylaws.

The problem is, he said, was that regional administrations lacked the authority to implement bylaws.

Local administrations had neither the authority, knowledge nor capacity, to implement the bylaws, he said.

The project would develop guidelines and minimum standards for local planners to develop regulations as required by law, he added.

— JP/Arya Dipa